diff --git a/wp-includes/comment.php b/wp-includes/comment.php
index cd9c9e9b3e..16bd29ea1e 100644
--- a/wp-includes/comment.php
+++ b/wp-includes/comment.php
@@ -135,7 +135,6 @@ function get_approved_comments($post_id) {
  */
 function get_comment(&$comment, $output = OBJECT) {
 	global $wpdb;
-	$null = null;
 
 	if ( empty($comment) ) {
 		if ( isset($GLOBALS['comment']) )
@@ -151,7 +150,7 @@ function get_comment(&$comment, $output = OBJECT) {
 		} elseif ( ! $_comment = wp_cache_get($comment, 'comment') ) {
 			$_comment = $wpdb->get_row($wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_ID = %d LIMIT 1", $comment));
 			if ( ! $_comment )
-				return $null;
+				return null;
 			wp_cache_add($_comment->comment_ID, $_comment, 'comment');
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/wp-includes/revision.php b/wp-includes/revision.php
index 82b95c31ec..12cc8e1c4f 100644
--- a/wp-includes/revision.php
+++ b/wp-includes/revision.php
@@ -256,11 +256,10 @@ function _wp_put_post_revision( $post = null, $autosave = false ) {
  * @return mixed Null if error or post object if success.
  */
 function wp_get_post_revision(&$post, $output = OBJECT, $filter = 'raw') {
-	$null = null;
 	if ( !$revision = get_post( $post, OBJECT, $filter ) )
 		return $revision;
 	if ( 'revision' !== $revision->post_type )
-		return $null;
+		return null;
 
 	if ( $output == OBJECT ) {
 		return $revision;
diff --git a/wp-includes/taxonomy.php b/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
index 95c3d3676e..f5e3f22969 100644
--- a/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
+++ b/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
@@ -935,7 +935,6 @@ class WP_Tax_Query {
  */
 function get_term($term, $taxonomy, $output = OBJECT, $filter = 'raw') {
 	global $wpdb;
-	$null = null;
 
 	if ( empty($term) ) {
 		$error = new WP_Error('invalid_term', __('Empty Term'));
@@ -954,11 +953,11 @@ function get_term($term, $taxonomy, $output = OBJECT, $filter = 'raw') {
 		if ( is_object($term) )
 			$term = $term->term_id;
 		if ( !$term = (int) $term )
-			return $null;
+			return null;
 		if ( ! $_term = wp_cache_get($term, $taxonomy) ) {
 			$_term = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM $wpdb->terms AS t INNER JOIN $wpdb->term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id WHERE tt.taxonomy = %s AND t.term_id = %d LIMIT 1", $taxonomy, $term) );
 			if ( ! $_term )
-				return $null;
+				return null;
 			wp_cache_add($term, $_term, $taxonomy);
 		}
 	}